I woke up bright and early one last time for New York Comic Con. I packed my things and took them down to the bell desk. I wandered to the nearest deli to grab a quick breakfast before going off to Javits. On my way over, I ran into two toddlers cosplaying as Black Widow and Tony Stark. As I got closer, I saw plenty of parents take their kids dressed up in Halloween costumes to comic con. As I lined up to get inside the dealer’s hall, I saw armies of grade school kids geting ready for the convention. As it turns out, Sunday is Kids Day. 12 and under get in for free.
Annie
As a former regional cast member in a South Bay production of Annie, I was quite interested in attending the early morning Annie panel. Yes, it’s THAT Annie – ginger in the red dress. As a fan of musicals, I thought this might be interesting to check out. This was a presentation done by an education group that is responsible for making the Annie website experience entertaining and educating.
Annie is having a revival on Broadway this year. Previews begun during New York Comic Con. The educator team walked the audience through the website to show how life was like in 1930s New York. The team also showed behind the scenes videos. My favorite part of this panel was when they interviewed Susan Hilferty, costume designer for many Broadway shows (Wicked, Spring Awakening, etc). The panel seemed like it was geared towards the younger audience, but there were a lot of musical fans in the audience.
Sesame Street
After the Annie panel, I decided to go to the Sesame Street presentation at the main stage. There were two main stages in the autograph alley. Sesame Street was a huge part of my childhood – mostly the specials and movies (Big Bird: Kaguyahime, Big Bird and a Chinese Monkey King Thing, Follow That Bird, and Don’t Eat the Pictures). The show mainly featured Gordon and Elmo. The show was mainly for kids – there was a lot of that educational singing and dancing. However, I thought the comedy bits between Gordon and Elmo were spot on – the bits also appealed to the nerdy parents. References to Star Wars and Doctor Who all brought a smile to our faces.
Kids Costume Contest
I stopped by the cosplay contest for the kids. I never actually been to a kids cosplay show, but this was really cute. All the parents had to do was sign their kids up and have them strut on stage. There were about 60 or so entries that went on stage. It was not really a contest, but it was more of a runaway show where the audience goes “daww…” I will admit, it’s nice to see mini Avengers and mini Indiana Jones. Kids got some swag and a certificate just for participant in the show. No drama and no pressure, just something fun for the kids to do.
Dealers Hall Deals
MidTown Comics seemed to take over the graphic novel department. I wanted to get some last minute graphic novels so I had something to read on the bus ride back to Boston. All of Fables was sold out. If anything, the Fables panel on the previous day showed that there was a huge fan following for the fairy tale series. I eventually picked up Sailor Moon volume 5 and 6 at MidTown Comic’s section.
I then went to the Archie booth to find lots of childhood treasures. I was perusing to see what Archie Comics had in their last day stockpile. Not only I found a treasury of Archie gang stories that embodied 90s pop culture, but I also found a copy of the Love Showdown series. Apparently, the collection of comics that I thought I lost after middle school has been recollected into a graphic novel. After picking up these childhood finds, everything just felt like it came full circle. New York Comic Con was just a great way to rediscover innocent and simpler times through nerdom.
The dealers hall was about the close off. I heard the familiar beats of the PSY tune not too far away. The New Gen booth was doing a “Gangnam Style” contest. Much like Mabel in the Double Dipper episode, it was time to claim the Party Queen title. Also much like Mabel, scored second place, but brought back tons of awesome memories making new friends.
Video courtesy of New-Gen.
Walking back to the New Yorker hotel, I begun to reminisce about all the good times at New York Comic Con. For a while, I have been turned off by the mega comic book themed conventions, but in spite of the crazy crowds, deep down inside, New York Comic Con still has a heart as big as the Big Apple. I boarded the Bolt bus back to Boston and dozed off pondering if a Ricky Martin theme would work for New York Comic Con.
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